Attributes

The polygon attributes (census2000blockgroups_poly.dbf and census2000blockgroups_poly_orig.dbf) for the Census 2000 Block Groups shapefiles distributed by MassGIS contain the following items:

ITEM NAME

TYPE / WIDTH

DESCRIPTION

AREA

N / 20

Area of polygon(s) in square meters.

PERIMETER

N / 20

Perimeter of polygon(s) in meters.

STATE

C / 2

State ID Code. (Massachusetts = 25)

COUNTY

C / 3

County code (FIPS-ID without “25”)

TRACT

C / 6

Census 2000 Tract Code

BLOCKGROUP

C / 1

Census 2000 Blockgroup Code

BG_ID

C / 20

Unique Blockgroup ID value

CT_ID

C / 20

Unique Census Tract ID value

BLK_COUNT

N / 3

Number of blocks in the blockgroup

LOGRECNO

C / 7

Common field to join/link to related attribute tables

TOTAL_POP

N / 10

100% Count of Population (from SF1)

SAMP_POP

N / 10

Sampled Count of Population (from SF3)

DRY_PCT

N / 8

Percentage of non-water area for the block

DRY_ACRES

N / 12

Non-water area, in Acres

DRY_SQMI

N / 10

Non-water area, in Square Miles

DRY_SQKM

N / 10

Non-water area, in Square Kilometers

** - For the most accurate display of population density by Block Group, normalize TOTAL_POP by any of the last three items.

Note: The 100% population counts and the sampled population counts for any given census block group will often have different values. This is due to the nature of sampling and extrapolation techniques in statistics. It is recommended that when using SF1-derived data, the 100% population count be used, whereas when SF3-derived data is used, the sampled population should be utilized instead in order to maintain consistency between the headcount and the tabular values.

Related Demographics Tables

The following tables, extracted from the SF3 tables and available in dBase format (.dbf), which provide detailed demographics information, may be joined to the Block Groups shapefiles on the LOGRECNO item. See the Field Descriptions at bg_fields.xls (Excel format) and bg_fields.dbf (dBase format).

Download All Tables (plus field description table, in a zip file; 6.3 MB) or click the Download link after each table description to download that table in a zip file

education_attainment_by_gender_age.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_ED_ATTAIN_GEN_AGE)Lists the breakdown of all individuals age 25 and over by gender and highest level of schooling. Download

education_enrollment_by_gender_age.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_ED_ENROLL_GEN_AGE)Lists the breakdown of all individuals age 3 and over by gender and which enrollment category (groupings of grades) they fall within, as well as private vs. public school distinctions. Download

employment_status_by_gender.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_EMP_STAT_GEN)Lists the breakdown of all individuals age 16 and over by gender and their status in the labor force. Download

household_size_by_family.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HH_SIZE_FAM)Breakdown of number of households by family vs. non-family status, and number of individuals in the household. Download

households_by_age_family_children.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HH_AGE_FAM_CHILD)Shows number of households broken down by age of primary household owner, family vs. non-family household, marital status, and presence or non-presence of children. Download

housing_amenities_by_tenure.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HOUSING_AMEN_TEN)Details how many housing units use certain primary sources of fuel, number of vehicles owned by occupants (renters vs. owners), and number of units with complete plumbing and kitchen facilities. Download

housing_owner_rental_demographics.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HS_OWN_RENT_DEMO)Shows number of housing units broken down by owner vs. renter, racial category, age of owners and/or renters, number of persons living in housing units, and occupants per room statistics. Download

housing_rent_statistics.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HOUS_RENT_STATS)Lists number of rented housing units within categories specifying amount of rent paid, whether this is contract rent vs. gross rent vs. requested rent (for vacant units), and the amount of rent paid dependent upon number of bedrooms in the unit. Also lists number of rented housing units with respect to percentage of income allocated for rent. Download

housing_rooms.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HOUSING_ROOMS)Breakdown of number of rooms in all housing units, as well as owner-occupied vs. renter-occupied housing units. Median and aggregate numbers of rooms included. Download

housing_structure_age.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HOUS_STRUCT_AGE)Lists number of housing units built within a given time period. Also lists the median year that all housing units within a given blockgroup were built. Download

housing_units.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_HOUSING_UNITS)Provides numbers of housing units, broken down by occupied vs. non-occupied, owner-occupied vs. renter-occupied, and the number of units in each house. Download

income_by_familytype.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_INC_FAMTYPE)Number of families vs. non-families that fall within incremental income categories, as well as median income, aggregate income, and aggregate income of wealthy vs. non-wealthy families. Also includes per capita income. Download

income_by_household.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_INCOME_HH)Lists number of households falling within incremental income categories, as well as median income, aggregate income, and aggregate income of wealthy vs. non-wealthy households. Download

income_poverty_levels_by_age.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_INC_POV_LEV_AGE)Using census definition of poverty based on income, shows how many individuals do and don't meet the federal criteria for "poor" and which age grouping they fall into. Download

population_by_age_gender.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_POP_AGE_GEN)Lists how many members of each gender fall within incremental age categories. Download

transportation_commute_means.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_TRNS_COM_MEANS)Provides breakdown of number of employed individuals and their various methods of transportation commuting to work. Download

transportation_commute_time.dbf (SDE name: GISDATA.CEN2K_BG_TRNS_COM_TIME)Commuting to work travel times for the employed non-work-at-home population. Broken into time intervals and reflects mode of transportation. Also lists non-commuting population. Download